


Hypersomnia

by CosmicCove



Series: Just the Three of Us [2]
Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: A short sequel to the other to the other fic, Gen, Giovanni is dad, Oneshot, Sylvie's POV, This took like three days because I went a little overboard oops-, This won't make much sense if you didn't read the other one, also spoilers for that one in here, animal cruelty, animal death (sort of), idk how to tag well, just it's whatever the mean pet store is back okay?, mentions of animal abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicCove/pseuds/CosmicCove
Summary: “Yes, most days.  But today is different,” Giovanni told him.“How?”“Because tonight,” Giovanni proclaimed, jabbing his finger at Sylvie, “YOU will be joining us!”Sylvie was startled.  “M-Me?  What?”
Relationships: Implied Crusher/Giovanni Potage, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Giovanni Potage
Series: Just the Three of Us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583299
Comments: 13
Kudos: 138





	Hypersomnia

**Author's Note:**

> This story will not make much sense if you haven't read my other fic "Sometimes, It's Better to Forget Responsibility." It also contains spoilers for it. You have been warned.

The past few weeks with Giovanni living with him had been actually okay. Alright, they had been straight up awesome, he’d admit it. Just a short month ago, Sylvie would not have believed this would have happened, much less that he’d enjoy it. In fact, he would have expressed his disgust at the thought, had he been told what would happen after they first met. Then again, when they first met, he was in denial about a lot of things. Sometimes, the most unlikely of people make you open your eyes. People who seem to be the worst just sometimes are the people who will care for you, and will worry for you.  
Speaking of which, Sylvie realized that Giovanni was probably worried for him right now. He had to work overtime that night, and he was arriving home an hour and a half late, and he didn’t call to tell because even though he’s supposed to, he still sometimes forgot there was someone who actually wanted to know, needed to know. Sometimes he forgot Giovanni cared and wanted him to be okay, and worried if it seemed that the teen was in trouble. Sylvie knew that things like this were not easy; of course he did, it was his job to know how people adjust to things, but he had no idea just how difficult it was. It was hard to accept that you were being cared for after so long of caring for yourself all alone.  
And even now, as he waited out the last stretch of his bus ride home, he still wasn’t sure if calling now, although too late to negate any worry Giovanni certainly felt up until that point, would be the right thing to do. No matter how much Giovanni did, Sylvie wasn’t really able to convince himself that one day he’d be too much, and he’d be left alone again. After all, it had been that way his whole life. He was too whiny, too quiet, too busy, or not busy enough; just plain too much. And then people left. And then he was alone. He didn’t mean to push people away, it just sort of happened, and he wouldn’t notice until it was too late. Whenever his patients did, he’d notice, and he’d point it out. Yet, when it was himself…  
He was jostled out of his thoughts by the bus halting at his stop. The small dregs of his thoughts were still swirling in his head, just out of his reach to continue being thought. He made his way of the bus, his face expressionless, mumbling a bland “Thank you,” to the bus driver without looking at the man. Once off, Sylvie paused for a moment. The other people getting off the bus bumped into him and shoved past him, and the bus’ doors shut behind him. The bus drove off and even the stragglers the hung back at the stop cleared away, and yet he still stood there. “C’mon, Sylvester, the longer you wait, the longer Giovanni worries!” he mentally berated himself. He still could not bring himself to leave quite yet. What if Giovanni was angry with him? What if this was it? What if this mistake is what would cause Giovanni to leave? What if he would be alone again. No, that was irrational, wasn’t it? Maybe if he could recollect the string of thoughts he had in the train, he could convince himself otherwise, yet deep down he knew it was all the same thinking as now. Only doubt. Only fear.  
He took one wary step towards his apartment building. He felt like crying, knew it was okay to cry, but he would not. He didn’t want to. More walking. Deep breath. He could do this. He opened the door to the apartment building- and Giovanni was standing directly on the other side.  
“There you are!” Giovanni cry in relief, scooping Sylvie up in his arms into a big hug.  
“What?” Sylvie blurted in shock.  
“You hadn’t gotten home yet. I was worried,” Giovanni explained, “I was about to go looking for you!”  
“I’m sorry,” Sylvie muttered, “I got pulled into overtime. I forget to call.”  
“Eck. Work,” Giovanni hissed.  
“I love my job,” Sylvie mentioned matter-of-factly.  
“Whatever man,” Giovanni said light-heartedly, putting Sylvie back down and ruffling his hair gently.  
Giovanni and Sylvie walked back to the apartment 105. “Thank you for not being mad at me,” Sylvie mumbled, looking down at the floor.  
“Why would I be mad at you for working late? You were doing your job.”  
“Well… They… would have.”  
“Your parents? Who cares about your parents. Your parents sucked. I’m here now.”  
“It’s hard to accept that things have changed.”  
Giovanni nodded. “I know. But we can talk about this later. We have a lot to think about already tonight!”  
“What do you mean?” Sylvie asked.  
“You’re off work tomorrow, right?” Giovanni asked, pulling out the keys and unlocking the door to their apartment.  
“Yeah?” Sylvie answered, drawing out the word apprehensively. Giovanni opened the door.  
“He found him!” a voice yelled from within the room, followed by a chorus of cheering.  
No. He didn’t. Sylvie looked into the room, beholding six banzai blasters gathered in their living room. “Giovanni,” he whined, “I told you I didn’t want criminals in our apartment!”  
“Aw, c’mon, Sylv! We’re going to have fun tonight.” Giovanni playfully nudged Sylvie and grinned.  
Sylvie sighed, “You guys can meet up at other places, though. Don’t you usually go to the library or something to plan these?”  
“Yes, most days. But today is different,” Giovanni told him.  
“How?”  
“Because tonight,” Giovanni proclaimed, jabbing his finger at Sylvie, “YOU will be joining us!”  
Sylvie was startled. “M-Me? What?” Him? Help a bunch of criminals? No way! ...Well… He supposed he did owe Giovanni a lot for all the help he’d given him the past couple of weeks….  
“Yeah! We’re living together now. You’re practically one of my best friends, and all of my best friends go out committing crimes with me. Like Beartrap at the museum! And now it’s your turn!” Giovanni explained. He was practically bursting with excitement.  
Sylvie was finding it hard to say no to Giovanni’s oddly adorable enthusiasm, and the sincerity of the explanation was touching. And again, he did owe it to Giovanni to do something like this. A rite of friendship, too? Sylvie had never really done one of those before, and suddenly he really wanted to be a part of one, despite the fact that he never really wanted to be included in one previously. Now that he had the chance, he never wanted to let it go. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d pull through this little heist with six new friends, although he doubted it. He’d never been the type to make friends.  
“If you want,” Giovanni hastily added.  
Shoot. Had he been overthinking again? Sylvie hated it when he paused to overthink something and left everybody waiting for an answer. “You know what?” he answered finally, “I’ll do it.”  
Giovanni squealed with delight. “Oh, don’t move! I have something for you!” Giovanni dashed into the bedroom they shared, and ran back out a few seconds later with a small banzai blaster uniform. “I made it myself!” He declared with pride, handing it to Sylvie.  
Sylvie took the uniform from Giovanni’s hand, examining it carefully. He gingerly turned it over in his hands. The stitching was near-masterful, and it was even the proper size. “It’s perfect,” Sylvie thanked him, sounding a little choked up. But he wasn’t going to cry! He didn’t feel like crying. Especially in front of all these people.  
Giovanni patted him on the back, with a chipper, “Get dressed, and we’ll be off right away. We already have plans on what we’re going to do tonight.”  
Sylvie went back into their bedroom. He looked back down at the uniform. He gave it a small hug before he unfolded it and began to put it on. He knew it was a foolish gesture, but he’d never been given a hand-made gift before. Sure, he had gifts galore sent to him by Molly when he was in the hospital recovering from his fight with Mera, but none were toys she had made herself. This was something someone had made just for him, and only he’d have one that looked just like this. All fifteen years of his life, and not one gift like this. Okay, so maybe he was crying now, but only a little.  
Drying his eyes, he stepped back into the hallway, now clad in his banzai blaster uniform. Now that the initial shock of being lassoed into the operation had worn off, he felt excited, against his better judgement. Yeah, he was going to commit some crimes and then most likely regret it forever, but he was going to make friends! He was going to have fun with Giovanni, one of his dearest friends, and if he was being honest, his sort-of father figure. He was beginning to see Giovanni as his dad now, but he’d never tell. It was very childish of him, after all, and how would Giovanni react to it?  
Sylvie joined the others in the living room. “I’m ready,” he told them.  
“Wonderful!” Giovanni exclaimed, “Let’s go everyone!”  
They all filed out of the building and into Giovanni’s car, which certainly didn’t have enough seats for all seven of them. Giovanni, being as safety-obsessed as he was, said that they all be safe if they all shared a seat belt. Even then, it was still super illegal, and Sylvie knew it. He allowed it anyways, though. He could be cool.  
He usually rode up front with Giovanni, but this time some guy named Crusher got to sit up front instead. What was so special about that guy? Whatever, he didn’t care. He totally wasn’t jealous that somebody else got to sit with Giovanni. Not at all. The others sat strapped together in two of the backseat spaces, while he rode singularly. Giovanni had insisted that, out of the five in the back, Sylvie had to be the one with his own seatbelt. So the other four had split, and they looked really uncomfortable. Sylvie internally thanked Giovanni, tempted to thank him out loud, but afraid to make the others feel bad, or worse, make them hate him. He was cool. He could make a great friend. This time, he wasn’t going to screw up.  
There was a chatter in the car as they drove as Giovanni and his boys discussed future plans and joked around. Sylvie stayed quiet. He was never one for conversation. He didn't feel like trying to join in and screwing up horribly. He'd say something arrogant and snarky, or sound like some nerdy know-it-all, and then none of them would want to be his friend. That's how it always went. There was no escaping it.  
The car stopped, parked in a place that looked familiar to Sylvie, but he couldn't put his finger on it. They all got out of the car, and as they walked towards the large building under the starry sky, he realized where they were. It was the mall. The same mall Giovanni took Molly and him during their sleepover. "We're committing crimes here?" He asked Giovanni.  
"Nostalgic, isn't it?" Giovanni replied, a wistfulness in his tone, "It's where you committed your first crime. The boys and I thought it was appropriate."  
"Hey! Taking Lev from that awful pet store wasn't stealing! I rescued him!" Sylvie yelled.  
"I'm glad you think that," Giovanni stated, "Because you're going to help us steal, or rescue, whatever you call it, more pets.  
Sylvie blinked. "I am?"  
"Yeah!" A guy in a beat-up uniform exclaimed, "I NEED myself a cool pet snake!"  
"I want a bird!" Screeched the purple-haired minion.  
Ben, one of the few boys that Sylvie knew the name of, added, "It's kitten time!"  
A few of the others chimed in with what they wanted, but they all started yelling over each other, so Sylvie could not make out what they were saying.  
"Okay, I'll do it," Sylvie complied with determination. This wasn't really a crime, after all. After he had rescued Lev, he did research on pet stores similar to the one in the mall, and he noted that many of the animals in them did not live long lives compared to others.  
The mall was closed, of course. It was ten on a weeknight, and since they were experiencing the cold taiga winter, the stars were already out.  
Giovanni turned to one of his minions. "Did you manage to do it?"  
The minion, the one with all the stickers of planets on his helmet, nodded eagerly.  
"Excellent, Dark Star! Off we go!" Giovanni announced, holding up a declarative finger and walking towards one set of doors.  
So the one with the stickers was Dark Star. Duly noted. He followed Giovanni as he opened one of the museum entrances with ease. This must have been Dark Star's doing. Clever.  
"You'll be taking it from here," Giovanni told him, holding the door open for him.  
"O-oh," Sylvie stuttered, "Okay." He took an anxious step forward into the building. The other boys and Giovanni seemed to be following him now. Alright. He could do this. He just had to remember how to get to the shop. And then get the animals out. And pray that there were no night security guards. And- no. No worrying. He had to keep his head on straight and finish what he started.  
He wandered through the darkness, wishing it was a little brighter, because Giovanni, with all his ability to prepare, aka none, had not brought flashlights. Or anything at all, actually. He lead them around aimlessly, the blind leading the blind, both because of the darkness, and because he did not go to the mall enough to know where the pet store was. Just when he was going to admit he didn't know where to go, he wandered up to it, quite by accident. The others all gave him pats on the back, or something equally quiet yet rewarding, like tosseling his hair.  
Now that they were inside the shop, some of the boys were starting to take out their phones and using the glow from the screens to observe their surroundings. The purple haired girl alarmed one of the birds, and it flapped its wings in distress, which made a loud noise. "Shhh!" She hissed at it. It shushed her back. She grinned. "I want this one!" She whisper-shouted at Sylvie.  
"Uh, okay," he whispered. He approached the cage hesitantly. It was locked with a small padlock. "Does anyone have something hard I can knock against this? A hammer? A rock?" He asked.  
"I have a rock," Ben stated, pulling out a rather large stone from a bag he had with him. He handed the rock to Sylvie.  
"Thanks," Sylvie murmured. He held the padlock with one hand, and the rock with the other. He struck the padlock with it. It clanged, and he cringed back at the noise, hoping there'd be no one to alert somewhere in the museum. The padlock loosened, but wouldn't jiggle free yet. He gripped the padlock tighter, and clenched his teeth, bringing the stone down hard on the padlock. "Ow," he hissed as one of his fingertips was caught in the blow, but it worked. The padlock opened after a couple shakes. The bird, a cockatiel he thought, tried to fly out as the girl opened the cage, but it fell into her arms instead.  
"They must have clipped its wings," Sylvie noted, "That's cruel!"  
The girl stroked the birds feathers and hushed it. "I'll name you Spike Jr.," She told it.  
So Spike was her name. That was pretty cool. He wanted a cool nickname too. Or he would if he was actually joining the group, which he wasn’t! He was no criminal. He was only here for Giovanni’s sake. Even if it was kind of thrilling…  
“Oh cool! Check out this turtle!” Crusher said with a grin. Sylvie had to admit, this guy was kind of endearing. Maybe that’s why Giovanni liked Crusher so much. But not as much as Giovanni liked him, of course. And no, he wasn’t jealous.  
Sylvie approached Crusher. “You want that?” He asked, sounding a little bit cold. He didn’t mean to sound like that, because he wasn’t jealous at all. Nope.  
“Yeah, thanks kiddo,” Crusher whispered.  
“I’m not a kid,” Sylvie hissed with a scowl. He gently pulled the lid off the turtle’s tank, somehow not making a sound. He pulled the turtle out of the tank and handed it to Crusher. “Remember to put them in water as soon as you can.”  
“Aw,” Crusher cooed as he took the turtle, “He’s so cute! I think I’ll name him… Uh… Turtle!”  
Not very creative, but undeniably adorable. Sylvie wanted to like this guy, but something was keeping him from that. And no, he wasn’t going to admit it was jealousy, because he wasn't jealous, and even if he was, there’s no way Giovanni could like this guy more than him.  
“Irk. This fish is dead,” Ben grimaced as he looked into a fishbowl.  
“This place treats its animals horribly,” Sylvie spat.  
“That’s why we’re stealing from here,” Giovanni pointed out.  
“Rescuing, not stealing,” Sylvie corrected.  
Giovanni shrugged. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”  
“Oh SNAP!” The red headed blaster whisper-shouted from across the room, “This black lab puppy is adorable!”  
Sylvie walked over to where the blaster was. He glanced into the small cage, where a pure black puppy was sleeping uneasily. He was no expert on dogs, but he'd say that the blaster was correct, it was a black lab. He tried to open the cage, but the handle would not budge. "Locked. And it looks like you need the keys to get into it. I'll be right back."  
Sylvie turned around and headed for the counter with the cash registers on it. He inspected the top of the counter, checking under plastic bags and loose paperwork. He opened drawers and riffled through them. No key was to be found. He quickly scanned the rest of the room. "There is another place I could check," he mentally noted as the employees only area caught his eyes. He walked into the area. The area in question was a small staff room with a door leading to a bathroom, a small table, a few chairs scattered throughout the room, and a bunch of other items throughout the room making quite the mess. There was a key hanger on the wall. He looked it over, reading the labels written above the keys. "Cash register… Doors… Bingo!" He snagged the key labeled "Animals."  
He returned to the red haired blaster. "I'm back," he stated, knowing that this guy probably didn't care at all. He unlocked the cage, waking the puppy. It stood up and blinked at them. Then, it barked playfully. Everyone in the store jumped.  
"No, puppy! Shhh!" Sylvie stammered, as he pulled it out of its cage and gave it two quick pets. The dog quieted down, seemingly soothed by being pet. "Here," Sylvie muttered to the blaster, "Try and keep her quiet, okay?"  
"I'll keep shade nice and quiet, don't worry," the blaster smiled at him. Shade, huh? Finally, a creative name. But who was he to judge, either way?  
"Ooh, ooh, help me next, animal boy!" Ben murmured excitedly, a few cages down, "Look at this orange kitty! I want!"  
Sylvie looked at it. Despite what Ben said in the parking lot, he had not chosen a kitten, but a cat that must have been, at a minimum, three years old. That's all the better, Sylvie knew, because grown cats don't get adopted very often compared to kittens. He unlocked the cage, and nabbed the restless cat from it. The cat hissed and swiped at his hand. "No," Sylvie berated it.  
Ben snatched the cat away from him. "Don't tell my cat no! Diana is a queen."  
Sylvie rolled his eyes and walked away. Of course she was a queen, all cats were. Did Ben take him for a fool? No, Sylvie always thought of himself as a no nonsense guy, never foolish. He spotted that Dark Star guy gazing longingly at one of the fish tanks. Oh dear. How do you steal a fish?  
He approached Dark Star. "You really want that fish, huh?" He asked.  
Dark Star nodded. "Two, actually," he sighed, "That purplish guppy, and the orangy brown one, too."  
Sylvie looked at the fish. He couldn't lie, their coloration was gorgeous. "Does anyone have a container of some sort?" He asked, "Tupperware or something? Anything, as long as it has a lid."  
"Uh… I have my sandwich box from lunch still," Ben said, digging through the small bag he had with him. He pulled it out triumphantly.  
"Fill it with water. There's a bathroom in the employees only room," Sylvie commanded him.  
"Okay." Ben ran into the back of the store and vanished from sight behind the staff room door.  
"Wow, you're a natural born leader, Sylv!" Giovanni told him, visibly impressed.  
Sylvie beamed. "Thanks da- Giovanni!" He wouldn't slip up like that again.  
Giovanni looked at him, surprised. "Did you just call me-"  
"I called you Giovanni and only Giovanni!" Sylvie whispered quickly before he could finish.  
Giovanni smiled softly on the boy. "Okay, I believe you."  
Ben returned with the sandwich box, careful to make sure no water spilled out.  
Sylvie took the box from him gently, and slid the top off the fish tank. He spied one of the little nets that the pet store workers used to scoop the fish out of the tanks, and grabbed it. He scooped out the purple guppy and plopped it into the sandwich box, the displaced water sloshing out the top. Sylvie frowned as the water dripped down his hands. It felt uncomfortable. He scooped out the other guppy and lowered it into the box as well, grimacing more as more water was displaced. He carefully latched the lid onto the box. "Pick out one of those water filters. You're going to need it," Sylvie told him, handing him, "You might want to take one of those larger tanks too. They aren't quite big enough, but they'll work for a make-shift until you can get a larger one."  
"Mhm!" Dark Star nodded, and took off with his fish. "Alright Mr. and Mrs. Flippers, which filter do you want?" He murmured to the sandwich box. Cute names.  
The guy in the beat-up uniform raised his hand. "Yes?" Asked Sylvie, walking up to him.  
"Can I have this cool snake? I named them Onyx, because their black," the blaster told him.  
"Yeah," Sylvie answered simply, removing the lid of its tank and reaching into the exclosure. "Ouch!" Sylvie yipped, pulling his hand out quickly. "It bit me!" Indeed, the snake was curled into an offensive position. "This snake appears to be afraid of humans. What did they do to him?" Sylvie wondered aloud.  
"What do you mean?" The blaster asked.  
"Well, this snake will not make a good pet. It's afraid, and it won't be happy living with humans. This horrible shop must have had workers that misused it, poor snake… Tell you what, you pick a friendlier snake to keep, and we'll release this own into the wild, where it will be happy. Deal?"  
"Deal," the blaster agreed, "Y'know, your a smart cookie, uh… Your name?"  
"Sylvie." He offered the blaster his hand.  
The blaster shook it. "Car Crash."  
Wow. How'd he get a name like that? Sounds scary… And exciting! Sylvie was pulled from his tangent by Car Crash asking, "How about this one?" And pointing to a tank with a beautiful black and orange corn snake within it.  
Sylvie reached in the tank, and successfully grabbed it. "This one will do," he informed Car Crash, handing him the snake.  
Car Crash smiled. "Awesome. I think I'll name them Amber because of that pretty orange hue on their scales."  
"Nice choice," Sylvie approved. Now, to free that other snake… He grabbed one of the plastic bags from the counter, and coerced the aggressive black snake into it. He pulled it out, the bag crinkling and moving about in his hands as the snake thrashed. Sylvie twisted the bag's handles together to the snake would be secure. Hopefully it wouldn't suffocate.  
"Is that everybody?" Sylvie asked. Giovanni's boys all nodded.  
“Ahem,” Giovanni’s voice echoed across the room, “What about me? And our blaster who couldn’t be here today?”  
“The blaster that isn’t here today?” Sylvie asked curiously.  
“Uh, duh! Beartrap! Your best friend!” Giovanni teased.  
Sylvie had forgotten that Molly was technically a member, though he highly doubted the authenticity of her membership. Giovanni probably thought that this right now was him joining the Banzai Blasters, but he wasn’t. He’d never work together with criminals, at least not long term. And he wasn’t really doing anything wrong here, so he was entirely justified… Right?  
“Well, what do you want?” Sylvie asked.  
“I want this frog,” Giovanni told him, pointing to a small enclosure with a tiny tree frog dozing inside of it. “I’m going to name him Leaf, and he and Lev can be best friends.”  
Sylvie wasn’t sure if a friendship between a frog and a lizard was likely, but you never know, he guessed. “In this case, I’d suggest just taking the whole tank. It will be too small for that frog once its grown, but for now it should work,” Sylvie explained, “Don’t let the water spill out, whatever you do. The frog needs water, and even though it can survive on land for a time, it’s a bad idea to let it out for too long.”  
“You’re the expert,” Giovanni stated with a nod.  
Sylvie blushed. He wasn’t really. These were just things he’d read up on while researching corrupt pet stores while trying to get this place shut down. His advice was things he’d heard that pet stores sometimes got wrong. He was getting side tracked again. “What do you want to get Molly?” Sylvie asked Giovanni.  
“Remember those bunnies?” Giovanni asked him. He nodded, smiling at the memory of Molly happily petting the large brown bunny. “Can you get her that one she liked so much?”  
“Yeah, let me look at them,” Sylvie helpfully replied. He strolled over to the bunny pen and looked over it. He frowned. “That brown bunny is gone.”  
“Oh. Huh. I guess someone else bought it before us,” Giovanni murmured.  
“I suppose that’s for the best,” Sylvie sighed.  
“Yeah,” Giovanni agreed, “Pick a fluffy one you think she’d enjoy.”  
He settled on an extremely furry bunny with an orangey brown pelt. The sleepy bunny slowly opened its eyes and looked at him. It closed its eyes again and went back to sleep. Maybe an indifferent bunny would make a boring pet, but it’d be easy to get out of this place, and since he’d be carrying both the bunny and the angry snake, Onyx, who was still striking the sides of the bag, he’d rather have one thing easy to carry with him.  
He returned to Giovanni holding the bunny in his arms, gripping the bag with one hand. “I think we’re all set,” he informed him.  
“Great! Then you’ll lead us back out,” Giovanni told him.  
Sylvie began to lead the group out of the store, but was stopped in his tracks by a bright light. He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. The light stung after so much darkness.  
“Who’s there? What are you kids doing?” The person behind the light yelled. A security guard!  
Panic began to set in. No, he couldn’t be caught! He couldn’t be convicted! He had a job, the job of his dreams! He loved his life! This wouldn’t be how it all ended! “Counting sheep!” he shouted without thinking about it.  
“What the-?” the security guard started to yell, but was stopped short as the sheep barreled into him, exploding into clouds of pollen. The security guard fell to the ground, snoring.  
“Woah!” Crusher exclaimed, “You put him straight to sleep. That’s so cool!”  
Sylvie wanted to hiss ‘Yeah, cooler than you,’ but he did not. “Thanks,” he hollowly said instead.  
“Your epithet, it makes people sleep, then?” Spike asked.  
“Yeah,” he answered.  
“You’re like… Something that makes people sleep too much,” The red-haired blaster said, “Like… Missing the alarm clock.”  
“Flame thrower, that’s stupid!” Dark Star scolled, “He’s like staying up way too late. That makes people sleep too much.”  
“...Hypersomnia?” Sylvie asked.  
“Hyper-what?” asked Car Crash.  
“Hypersomnia,” Sylvie repeated, “it’s a sleeping disorder that's symptoms cause people to be tired throughout the day, take naps frequently, and have difficulty waking up.”  
“Yeah!” Crusher exclaimed, “You’re Hypersomnia!”  
One by one, the blasters approached him and patted him on the back or ruffled his hair, congratulating him on his banzai nickname. All except Ben, who was complaining that this “newbie” got his nickname before he had. Yeah. Yeah! He threw his hands into the air, fists clenched in victory, and shouted "I am Hypersomnia!" Once everybody had finished, Sylvie- no, Hypersomnia- lead them back to the doors of the mall. It was way easier to find the doors out than it was to find the pet store.  
“Alright, great job everyone! Especially you, Hypersomnia!” Giovanni cheered when they reached the car, causing Hypersomnia to blush once again, “Same places you were when we came here.”  
“Hang on,” Car Crash told Giovanni quietly. He walked up to Hypersomnia. “Ready to release Onyx?”  
“Oh, you have no idea,” He grumbled as the snake continued to bite into the bag. They walked to a grassy area next to the parking lot. Hypersomnia untwisted the bag and shook the snake out. He hissed at the boys, and they took a cautious step back. Onyx continued to stare at them for a bit before it turned around and slithered away as fast as he could. Wordlessly, they returned to the others. Everyone was seated and waiting. Car Crash squeezed in next to Spike and they strapped one seatbelt over themselves. He got into his seat alone, staring daggers at the front seat where Crusher sat. Oh, weird. Crusher and Giovanni were holding hands? And Crusher was rather flustered about it. Oh. OH. He felt very suddenly not jealous anymore. Uh, or at least he would have if he had been jealous in the first place. Because he never had been. Of course.  
Giovanni was dropping the boys off at their houses first. The ride around town, combined with holding an exceptionally fluffy bunny, lulled Hypersomnia to sleep. He leaned against the car door as he slept. Sometime after he had fallen asleep, he was shaken awake by Giovanni. “Hey, Sylv, we’re home. Or… Should I call you Hypersomnia?”  
Hypersonmia nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!” Giovanni laughed at how adorable Hypersomnia’s enthusiasm was. The two walked back into the apartment they shared. Giovanni changed into his pajamas, and then Sylvie did. Once his uniform was off, there was a stark difference in how he felt. The boy he was in the banzai blasters, that was Hypersomnia. Now that he was out of the outfit, he was just Sylvie again. Despite everything he stood for, insisting that he was no criminal and never would be, he already longed to be Hypersomnia again. He sat down on his bed, looking around his room. It looked the same as always, besides that now there was a tank with Leaf in it next to Lev’s enclosure, and a makeshift bunny pen made out of boxes that Giovanni had made for the bunny he’d gotten for Molly. The frog and the lizard were staring at each other curiously through the walls of their enclosures. Maybe Giovanni was right, then. Maybe Leaf and Lev would be best friends.  
“Hey, buddy. I’m making us both dinner before we go to bed,” Giovanni called from the kitchen. Sylvie looked at the clock on his desk. It blinked at 11:30, and now that he was thinking about food, his stomach growled.  
“Okay, I’ll be right there!” He called back. He took one last moment to himself, collecting his thoughts. Would he do that again? Yeah. Not without being asked to first, though. And he wouldn’t do it full time either. He already had the best job in the world, at least in his eyes. He had a lot of fun, though. So yeah. He wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime.


End file.
